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Episode 197 - How to Use Instagram Reels to Market Your Business
1.3k Plays1 year ago
Instagram Reels expert, Corrin Jaskinski, joins me on the podcast today to discuss how to get started with Instagram Reels. Corrin grew her following from about 3,600 to about 60,000 using Instagram Reels and it's one of the primary ways she markets her photography business.
As always, links and resources can be found in the show notes. Check ‘em out at https://daveyandkrista.com/instagram-reels-market-business/. And if you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review over at Apple Podcasts.
Unrelated, we are hosting a FREE 5-day email marketing challenge that will walk you through getting started with email marketing. Sign up at https://daveyandkrista.com/email-marketing/. That will begin on June 5th. But even if you miss it, check out that page for more email marketing resources.
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Transcript
Growing a Business with Instagram Reels
00:00:06
Speaker
The hook is the beginning portion of your video. And so with that, it is the first like one to three seconds of any video is what's gonna allow that viewer to realize if that video is for them or not. What's gonna get them to keep watching or not. So you only have three seconds, really. I wouldn't even give it more than that. So what you're trying to do is let someone know whether or not they should continue. So with that, it could be drawing on who they are. So sometimes I'll be like, if you're engaged,
00:00:35
Speaker
So if you're engaged, you're like, Oh, I'm engaged. I would love to watch this video. Welcome to the brands that book show where we help creative service-based businesses build their brands and find more clients. I'm your host, Davey gems.
00:00:49
Speaker
Instagram Reels expert Corinne Jasinski joins me on the podcast today to discuss how to get started with Instagram Reels. Corinne grew her following from about 3600 to 60,000 using Instagram Reels, and it's one of the primary ways that she markets her photography business.
00:01:06
Speaker
Corinne shares her process for creating content and answers questions like how often she shares it in Scram and what she uses to edit her videos. She even provides examples of how reels can work for different kinds of businesses. One thing I appreciate about Corinne's story is that although creating short-form video content isn't something that came naturally to her, she figured out a style she was comfortable with and made it work for her.
00:01:29
Speaker
If you're new to Instagram Reels, this is a great place to start. And even if you have some experience with Reels, you're bound to walk away from this episode with some new ideas. Unrelated, we are hosting a free five-day email marketing challenge that will walk you through getting started with email marketing. Sign up at davianchrista.com forward slash email dash marketing. That will begin on June 5th. But even if you miss it, check out that page for more email marketing resources.
00:01:58
Speaker
As always,
Marketing Challenge Promotion
00:01:59
Speaker
links and resources can be found in the show notes. Check them out over at davianchrista.com. And if you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review over at Apple Podcasts. Now, on to the episode.
Pets and Personal Anecdotes
00:02:16
Speaker
So what kind of lab do you have? A yellow lab. That is a picture, actually, a drawing right over there. That's literally from a picture. Awesome. Did you grow up with dogs?
00:02:27
Speaker
I did. I had a dog growing up and then we had a small era where we didn't because my parents were so upset about the other dog passing. And then they got two more dogs as soon as I was about to graduate from high school. So I was like, the timing of that. But my husband, as soon as we got in the relationship, he's like, I'm getting a dog and it's going to be a yellow lab and it's a girl and we're going to name her after a flower. And I was like, cool, that sounds great. Like, I don't think I have a choice in this, but this sounds wonderful.
00:02:54
Speaker
She's actually a failed seeing eye dog. So they fail for being too timid or they fail for being too aggressive. She was too timid. She doesn't like vacuums and other dogs.
00:03:04
Speaker
which is a lie, she loves other dogs, that's a lie. But you were a dog person before your husband was like, hey, we're getting a dog. Yes, yes, yes, there was never a problem with that. Cats, I would have had an issue. Yeah, me too. Dogs are- Cats are brutal. We have two cats, so for anybody listening who's getting offended right now, we have two cats, they are savages. I mean, they're the nicest cats in the world that come up and cuddle with you and all that, but like, they're savages.
00:03:28
Speaker
I'm convinced that if they could, they'd just eat me or something. Like a dog, you hear about stories where the owner passes out or something, the dog just sits there. The guard and the owner, cats, they just won't do that. You never hear a story about cats like that. Anyways, here we are talking about cats
Transition to Video Content
00:03:44
Speaker
and dogs. But Corinne, I'm really excited to have you on the podcast because you're talking about a topic that I just struggle with, and that's just video in general.
00:03:51
Speaker
You know, kind of a long running joke now between me and Chris did that on the podcast. I just talk over and over again about how I need to do more video and how I need to become more comfortable with video. We've been pushing more video still, you know, I feel like giant work in progress for us, but you're here to talk to us about Instagram reels, how to create Instagram reels, how to approach Instagram reels, why Instagram reels are worth, you know, investing time and energy into. So I'm excited to chat with you about that. Thank you so much for your time.
00:04:17
Speaker
Yeah, of course, I love this subject, so I'm the opposite of you. I could talk about it all day. It's the best. But I used to be you. I used to be you, like before Reels came out, everyone was like, video is coming, video is king. Now everyone's really saying that, but before in like 2018, people were still saying that it's coming, like watch out. And I was like, oh no, I better go hide underneath my photos because I'm never going to do video.
00:04:42
Speaker
the irony. Have you always been outgoing? Like, have you always been comfortable, you know, in front of the camera as comfortable as you are and behind the camera?
00:04:49
Speaker
No, I'm terrified camera wise. I'm very much a people person. I like speaking with people, but I'm also very introverted. I overthink everything. So that's why like Instagram stories, I still am terrible at it. I've actually been posting recently about this whole entire month of May. I'm really working really, really intentionally to get myself better at Instagram stories because I'm so bad at it. It's not natural to
Photography Journey
00:05:12
Speaker
me, but reels are so interesting.
00:05:15
Speaker
That is fascinating to me. I put reels and stories really, you know, in the same bucket. It's all video. It's all, you know, I feel like it's all sort of tough and a struggle for me. And I'm just so much more comfortable writing, you know, I just feel like I am so much better written down than in front of a camera. But that's also encouraging. You know, I think right off the bat that you're not someone who necessarily feels comfortable in front of the camera naturally, but it's something that you've you've taught yourself to do.
00:05:39
Speaker
I feel like I can control what I say in reels more than I can control what I say in stories. So I end up rerecording stories 10 million times. So I'm just trying to be go with the flow. And then I mess up on a word and I'm like, I'm no longer go with the flow. My story took 10 million hours and I'm not posting anything at the end of the day. But my reels are super scripted out, very Type A and perfectionist where I can get that done in like three minutes and I'm a control freak and it's fine.
00:06:04
Speaker
I'm excited to get to, you know, kind of your process for scripting out stories. So hopefully we'll be able to chat a little bit about that because I think that's something that would make things much easier for me. I feel you on stories though. I'm the same way where I just ramble so much. Once I'm done recording the story, I'm like, well, this is like, you know, 30 minutes long. No one's watching all of this, right?
00:06:24
Speaker
Well, anyway, let's back up a little bit. I'd love for you to just introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about your background and, you know, really what sort of impact Instagram reels have had on your business.
00:06:34
Speaker
Yeah, I'm Corinne. Hey, I am a wife to and I always like to introduce like my personal life first and then my business. I'm trying to get better about that. So my wife to my awesome and incredible husband. I am a dog mom as we talked about love dogs and her name is Lily. I'm a wedding photographer based in Virginia and then I'm also a reels coach for small business owners and
00:06:57
Speaker
Kind of how I got started with the whole wedding photography thing is pretty much in college, I was a math major and I went to a liberal arts college. And pretty much with liberal arts colleges, you have to take electives in order to graduate. And one of those electives I chose was photography. I always like double dabbling in it in high school. So when I took that elective, my professor was like, wow, you're really good. Like, why don't you take photo too? And I was like,
00:07:21
Speaker
Okay, like that won't hurt like I could try I get I have room why not like between math and computer science and physics I was like sure why not and then photo to turn in photo three photo three turned an advanced photo and then by at that point I pretty much had a arts minor with an emphasis in photography and then she was like just taking a couple more glasses and I was like sure why not and I ended up just having a double major in math and studio art with an emphasis in photography
00:07:50
Speaker
That's fascinating because Krista, I feel like has a similar, I mean, those are just two disciplines that you don't really think about going together, right? I mean, for Krista, when I remember in high school, you would take some sort of standardized test where it would spit out like a couple different types of jobs that you'd be well suited for. And for Krista, it was always like accounting and researcher and things like that. She was always so offended by it. She was like, no, I don't, yeah.
00:08:15
Speaker
That's not me. You don't know me at all. Yeah, that's interesting. So, you know, I guess what was the plan from college? Did you think you were going to become a full-time photographer?
Social Media and Content Creation Evolution
00:08:25
Speaker
Well, my parents weren't very happy when I was like double majoring and they're like, we're doing what? Like that doesn't even go like very similar. Everyone's like, what the heck? Like that doesn't even go together. And I'm like, I know, but my passion is here. I'm just really good at this. And everyone always tells you to do the thing that will make you money that gets you an easy job. And then women in math, like in high school for some reason that was ingrained in my brain.
00:08:48
Speaker
And so pretty much I was talking to my professors about like what's next because everyone kept asking and I was trying to figure out a photography type of job and she was listing out all these things and ironically she was actually like wedding photography is one of the most difficult things
00:09:04
Speaker
that you can consider. And I was like, why? And she's like, it's a lot of people. It's a lot of work. I would never do it for myself. And I was like, okay. Like, I guess wedding photography is like not available for me. I just, it sounded like impossible. Like National Geographic, being a photographer for them sounded better in her eyes than being a wedding photographer. And I was like, those aren't equal, but it's fine.
00:09:27
Speaker
And another thing was is that like with wedding photography, photographing couples never came natural to me a senior year of college. I had never been in a serious relationship. I never really understood love. And so with that, it just again, it was not something that I was like drawn to. And then
00:09:44
Speaker
In comes my now husband and this is the corny part of the story but it is my story. I fell in love and he taught me how it was to feel in love, be in love, to be loved, like everything love I got. I finally understood and wedding photography then just clicked.
00:10:02
Speaker
like photographing couples clicked and it came something that I loved doing because I understood it so deeply. So he's really the reason why I'm in wedding photography, not because of my background in it or anything like that. But that's kind of how all of that started. And yeah, so it's kind of crazy. I pretty much I photographed my first wedding in 2014. And then I went full time in 2017. And yeah, I've been doing full time ever since. And it's the best. It's just the absolute best.
00:10:32
Speaker
So is it hard to believe that you're coming up on a decade in business? It's wild. I will always think that because I mean, I always think of a newbie. Like at the same time, I know I'm a professional. I'm very good at what I do, but I think that I started like two years ago or something. I'm like, yeah, I just started. And I'm like, no, you haven't. Yeah. Yeah. I was just filling out some form. It asks about how long the business had been in existence, right? And I was like, that can't be right.
00:10:55
Speaker
It's been a couple of years, right? No, 13 or something or whatever. That's pretty crazy. So tell us a little bit about growing your business. I mean, was Instagram always a part of that? Has that always been sort of your primary marketing channel? Yeah. So starting out, Instagram was always something that I posted on. Again, Instagram was always just an easy thing to do, especially for photographers because you can just post a photo and you were good going on with your day. Other things that I did were blogging. I think that was it really was just Instagram and blogging for the
00:11:24
Speaker
majority of it. Just staying really consistent with those two things. And referrals, obviously, from clients and venues and stuff like that. So referral-based blogging and just posting on Instagram was what I did until 2019. And then TikTok came into my life when COVID hit.
00:11:42
Speaker
So with COVID, I still can't believe COVID was a thing sometimes. I'm like, it was a blur. It was a dream, like a really big nightmare. But 2020
Adapting to Algorithm Changes
00:11:50
Speaker
hit and my husband was, obviously no one's doing really much of anything. And he was on TikTok and he's like, have you heard of this? Like, this is so cool. Like, I think he would really, really enjoy it. And I was like, I have heard of it, but I heard it's a time suck. Like, I heard you can kind of get like, not addicted, but you'll end up scrolling for hours on it. And I was like, I just don't want that.
00:12:10
Speaker
I'm okay. And then obviously we had all the time in the world. So I was like, let me join. And it was just so fun. I love TikTok. I can speak on that a whole other episode, but like, it's so amazing. You know, I'd love to chat a little bit about TikTok too, and at least in the context of Instagram reels. So TikTok's really what introduced you to reels, it sounds like in your content creation sort of workflow. Are you still really creating with TikTok and then, you know, posting to reels or no, you're approaching these two things differently?
00:12:39
Speaker
I have actually stopped posting on TikTok for right now. All of last year, this is something I like to actually really talk about because last year I had 40 weddings. I photographed 40 weddings. I was in four weddings and attended another two weddings. So in general, I had about 50 weddings last year.
00:12:55
Speaker
And actually, I just want as a note, I feel like I'm just impressed that you had the bandwidth to also be in weddings. You know, one of the things that I, back in the day when Chris and I were shooting, one of the things that I just regret from my time as a wedding photographer are the weddings that we missed, you know, because we were booked a year, you know, plus out. So anyways, but go ahead. No, I got very, very lucky. And like one of them was my sister, all of the people that I was in their wedding for, they all made sure that I was not booked.
00:13:22
Speaker
They're like, you're free, right? And so that was so nice of them. They did not have to revolve their wedding around me, but they want to be to attend, which I was very grateful for. And then the others, I was able just to go because I got lucky. But that also meant that Reels and my main form of marketing had to take a vaccine.
00:13:38
Speaker
because my clients always come first. And then I also just went through a lot of mental health things too, where I really needed to take a step back from everything. My clients were number one, and then I also had to take care of myself. So it's stuff like that too, where that all had to take a back seat. And then when I finally got back into Instagram reels, I was like, TikTok's not here for right now. I need to go back slowly into this.
00:14:01
Speaker
So to answer your question, I don't post on TikTok anymore. I will get back to it at some point, but again, small steps going back into posting consistently on Instagram reels right now is really important to me. And then I'll
Creating Successful Reels
00:14:12
Speaker
get back into TikTok. So, you know, as far as Instagram reels go, how have you seen that in particular impact your business? And did you notice, do you feel like that it helped your business in a way that was different than, you know, old school Instagram, where it was all just basically static images?
00:14:28
Speaker
It was the biggest difference I have ever seen. So essentially when Reels came out, because Instagram being Instagram was like, oh look, look at TikTok doing its thing over there. I have to do something about this. Making Reels in October of 2020, they only had 15 second videos available for anyone who even got Reels at that point. And so I am a long-winded human. It's just a problem and it's a thing.
00:14:53
Speaker
And so 15 seconds, all the TikToks that I had made were not 15 seconds. So I could not post anything to Reels yet. I knew that my content wasn't going to be good in 15 seconds. I also, again, I ramble too much. And then, so in December of 2020, 30 seconds became available to me. And I then all of a sudden just posted everything that I had made over on TikTok, over onto my Instagram Reels,
00:15:19
Speaker
I think this sounds dramatic, but my life changed. My marketing life changed and Instagram became a place that no longer was daunting or where I felt stuck. It became a place that I was super excited to be on because making reels was so fun for me. It was a way that I could
00:15:37
Speaker
add my personality to my business for the first time ever. It was a time where my voice was being heard and I was helping people. I just felt such an impact from the things that I was posting, unlike when I was just posting pictures, where everyone would be like, oh my gosh, this is so pretty.
00:15:52
Speaker
Oh my gosh, this looks right. If I even got a comment, their engagement wasn't there really. And so now when I was posting all that stuff, the engagement was there. People were like, oh my gosh, thank you so much. This is so helpful. I never thought about this wedding tip. Oh my gosh, I applied this to my wedding. The DMs that I was getting being like, hey, this is super personal to me, but can you help me out?
00:16:14
Speaker
And I don't know, I just felt like I was actually making an impact and that meant so much to me. But essentially in December, I started off with 3,600 followers. So 3,600 followers. By February, I was at 10 K and I say this as a metric and not a goal or a why to you. Why should be posting reels, but more so that the content that I was producing was resonating with people so much so that they were coming onto my page and being like,
00:16:43
Speaker
I want her to be a part of my Instagram life. I want to see her content, which is huge. So that meant that I was producing good content that was resonating with people. That I should continue to post that type of content because then more people came in. More people started to follow. And right now I'm close to 60K, which is just... I say that and I'm still like, what the heck?
00:17:06
Speaker
Yeah, it's insane. It's really awesome and just such a huge difference between when I was just posting photos where I felt lost and stuck to now where I'm posting reels and it makes sense. I'm really passionate about it and I'm really helping people.
00:17:21
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's interesting on a number of different levels. I mean, first, that's just a huge jump, even between December and February, I mean, to, you know, more than double the amount of followers you have. But then in addition to that, you know, there's probably something to be said for just Instagram, maybe pushing more video content into people's feed feeds than static images. And I know recently, apparently they're
00:17:42
Speaker
Kind of even reshuffling that, apparently static images are going to be pushed just as much or whatnot. And maybe you could speak to that as well. But then also, I think just kind of the content that people are consuming. Like when I'm on Instagram, for instance, I spend a lot more time watching reels now than I do going through my feed. And so just my behavior on Instagram is different. And so, you know, it sounds like you're capitalizing too on just a behavior change that people are making, you know, when they scroll Instagram, you know, just the kinds of content they like to consume.
00:18:10
Speaker
Yeah. And I think it is really based on behavior, but essentially like the behavior and everything. And so you have to always change with Instagram. Instagram is never one stagnant thing. It is always changing. It's always evolving. And so you have to evolve with it. So similar to me and my like reels content, I have to evolve too. Like sometimes my reels just don't do well. And what I've been doing for so long, I have to change. I have to think about different ways to experiment and reach other different types of audiences.
00:18:39
Speaker
based on how Instagram is reacting to content now. And so because it is changing with the photos now being prioritized too. And I've noticed that my reach for Instagram reels has not been as great as it has in the past. I think it really depends on what I'm posting. Like, I think it was like two days ago, I posted probably my worst reel that I've ever posted. Do I want to delete it? Yes. Well, I know because I will not buy, it was just all photos. And I know not to do that, but I got lazy. And so, and I think it's helpful for people to see my work.
00:19:09
Speaker
But that's not why people follow me. People follow me to have like valuable tips. Again, Instagram is just changing daily and you have to evolve with it.
00:19:17
Speaker
Realizing that once in a while, you know, a post isn't going to get as much engagement, but doing it anyways, because maybe it speaks a little bit more to the kind of work that you're actually doing. You know, like there are certain things that we post across social media that I know typically isn't as popular, you know, but it is content that people ask about, you know, that's related to what we do. So I bet there's still some value there, even though that didn't do as well from an engagement perspective, you know, maybe though somebody sees it and is like,
00:19:43
Speaker
It really is just beautiful work of yours. And so they're maybe more likely to reach out to you and book you. But I would love to get into some of the tips you have for people getting started with reels. Where should we start talking about that?
00:19:56
Speaker
Oh, so, well, I guess why, like why Reels? Why Reels for your business is probably the first question I ask any of my one-on-one clients, anybody who hires me to help them with Reels, that's the first question I always ask them. Like why Reels for your business? Because I know we're talking about Reels, but if you're not passionate about it, if it doesn't resonate or give you joy, people are going to notice that really quickly.
00:20:23
Speaker
And so maybe that isn't something that you should do. But figuring out your why and your brand and who you're trying to reach is really, really important to figure out first. Very similar to every single business, like why in your business, why Reels? I think that's a wonderful place to start when you're trying to figure out what type of content to be creating for Reels, like what's resonating with you and what's resonating with your business and how can you give the most value to your ideal client.
00:20:51
Speaker
Like as an example, how would you answer that question for your business? And how does that drive the content creation process for you? Like how do you start determining what content even to share across reels? So I'd love to hear that just from your perspective, but then also maybe starting to transition too into chatting about actually how to make the reels as well. Because I think the technical aspect of things does, I don't know, discourage people from jumping in.
00:21:16
Speaker
Luckily now, especially just on the technical side, is that Instagram has changed their editing twofold. It is so different. When I tried to make Instagram reels when it first came out, you couldn't. It was terrible. So you always had to make it in TikTok to then transfer it. That's what you always had to do because TikTok's always been better, but now Instagram's actually a wonderful place to edit everything. It's changed so much. But anyway, my answer for the why is essentially,
00:21:46
Speaker
Why is a lot of different reasons, but the big one is how can I help at least one person? If this reel is going to impact, give value, be inspirational, or just relate to somebody, just one person, I will post it. That's my why. And then when I am creating the ideas for the content, I think about the struggle points of my ideal client. Like again, how can I help them and how can I resonate with them?
00:22:13
Speaker
And then another why is my main goal is to obviously help people, but I also want to make money. I know that sounds super blunt, but I'm on Instagram. My why for Instagram isn't just for me. I have a life. I have very similar to what I was saying at the beginning of this episode. I'm a wife, I'm a dog mom, and those are really big priorities for me. And having a roof over my head, enjoying life for me is really important. So why I'm posting on Instagram
00:22:42
Speaker
is to make money and book weddings. So with that, I also want to make sure that I am posting reels that will educate and get people to follow me and then trust me in my business so that then they'll end up hiring me for their wedding. So
Reusing and Maximizing Content
00:22:59
Speaker
that's another why as well.
00:23:00
Speaker
And I do appreciate the bluntness of that answer. And here's why. I think a lot of people on social media, it's easy to look at what other people are doing in your industry and then create content or do things, whether you're aware of it or not, for their approval. I think especially I see this in the wedding industry where
00:23:16
Speaker
you know, you see other photographers, maybe they're making courses, right? And you think, oh, well, you know, I should be sharing education and things like that too. But forgetting like, okay, well, who's actually paying me? You know, couples are paying me to shoot their weddings. You know, I think keeping that in the back of your mind as you're creating content is really important. As far as like coming up with content to share,
00:23:37
Speaker
What are some things that you're doing to come up with the content? One of the things you mentioned was, you know, what does your ideal client struggle with? So is it mostly just like questions you're receiving or things that you're seeing at weddings? What does that look like?
00:23:48
Speaker
It's a little bit of both of those. So it's definitely based off of like questionnaires that I have and stuff like that. Like I try to go back to the basics because I try to think about someone who this is brand new. It's like a kid trying to learn how to tie their shoes. They don't know someone who's engaged in planning a wedding. They don't know. And even if they do know some of this stuff, reminding them of these tips is always helpful. So I always just go back to those basics of things that are in my questionnaires, things that my clients ask me. And then I also get a lot of inspiration from wedding days when I'm working.
00:24:18
Speaker
So if I see struggle points or like, Hey, oh my gosh, it's just added 10 minutes to the timeline because we don't have a crochet hook for the 10 billion buttons on the back of her dress. Like that's a good video to have. It's like, and 15 seconds. Again, for me, it's about 30 seconds because I'm long winded, but it's just again saying, Hey, like make sure in your like to do like packing list to bring a crochet hook or you're going to probably add 10 minutes.
00:24:43
Speaker
to your wedding day. That's probably a better hook. Don't make this timeline mistake or some again, there's so many different hooks that you could probably have for that. And you can make multiple different videos about one crochet hook. But then that right there is about three different reels, whether that be a video of a dress and the crochet hook. So that's B roll, or you going face to camera and giving a hook and a really quick tip. Or are you doing a voiceover? Like that's three different reels right there.
00:25:09
Speaker
based on one different idea that's going to help so many different brides wearing a dress with buttons. I think that's super interesting too. And again, I think that's just such a good piece of advice is that you can take something that just seems so mundane and so simple, right? And you can create it into so many different pieces of content. I love hearing you say
Technical Aspects of Reels
00:25:25
Speaker
that because something that we've been pushing lately, and encouraging people to do lately is make the most out of their content. And I feel like, you know, no matter where you're creating content, people struggle with that where they spend all this time creating one piece of content. And then they think like, well,
00:25:38
Speaker
I've talked about that idea so I can never talk about it again. But it sounds like you're creating multiple reels out of basically the same event.
00:25:46
Speaker
And actually something I did that was brand new the other day, and I don't know if it will work for everybody, but a wedding that I saw on my stories through this planner was awesome. It was a seating chart that was super personal, super unique, and I had DM'd the planner being like, hey, can I make a reel out of this? Like, can I take those screenshots or can you send me photos of this seating chart? I will 100% tag you, but can I use this as like inspiration for a reel and promote it on my page? And she said yes.
00:26:16
Speaker
And she gave me all the photos and I actually just posted that today and it's going so well. So not only is it promoting all of the vendors that were there for that day, but it's also giving inspiration for brides and stuff like that too. That's another way. I've never thought about that until like last week where I saw that and I was like, I have to post about this.
00:26:33
Speaker
And so that's a different type of way you can create content is through other people's work, if you obviously get permission and that kind of stuff. My guess is you probably tagged her in the real, you know, I think those are also great ways just to build relationships from others, you know, and in return there, she's probably sharing it because she's featured in it, you know, so I think it's just so smart to do things like that.
00:26:51
Speaker
And when you're creating reels, you know, are you aiming for a certain length of time? Like, do you find that? I mean, for me, again, I tend to ramble. Anybody who listens to this podcast knows I tend to ramble. So my stories or reels could end up being like five minutes long. What length do you aim for?
00:27:07
Speaker
No one take this as a tip because I created three reels yesterday and the one I posted today was 45 seconds. I have another one that's a minute and I have another one that's a minute at 11 seconds. Please do not do what I do because it takes a lot of practice and a lot of storytelling ability to be able to do with that. And I'm not trying to like shoot my own horn. It takes a lot of practice. Actually, I've like just trained my
00:27:35
Speaker
audience, my Instagram followers to know that I'm long winded too. So they don't expect like a 15 second video from me. They know that it's going to be long because they've been following me for years. So that's something also to keep in mind is that whatever you're producing, if you produce it consistently, like your audience is going to get used to whatever you're producing and they're going to watch that then.
00:27:59
Speaker
If you're starting out with trends and stuff like that, stick to like seven to 12 seconds. The shorter ones, watch time is the biggest metric. Just heard that Instagram is pushing that metric out to people's accounts. So you want someone to watch from beginning to end, and if they can watch two times, you just won the lottery. So the shorter that it is, the more likely that it will be watched in full, which is really wonderful for the Instagram algorithm.
00:28:23
Speaker
Yeah, I guess it
Efficient Content Production
00:28:24
Speaker
sounds somewhat similar to YouTube. But I also think, again, just going back to what you were saying at the core, which is basically like, at the end of the day, your audience is going to come to expect something out of you. So it's probably to a certain extent, finding what the sweet spot is with your audience as well. And then they'll be sort of trained accordingly, just having watched your reels over and over and over again. They'll just come to know that maybe when they come to your account, that they're going to get reels that are a little bit on the longer side.
00:28:52
Speaker
They'll learn that very quickly. Yeah. And I would say this is true of any other piece of content, right? Like even writing blogs. Some people write short and sweet blogs and that's what people come to expect. Our blogs tend to be on the longer side because they're typically covering topics that are a little bit more technical. So there's not really maybe a right answer there. What about things like editing? You had mentioned that you used to edit in the TikTok app. That's what Krista used to do as well. I don't know if she still does or not. You can see how involved I am with our TikTok.
00:29:21
Speaker
an Instagram account. Do you now edit completely in Instagram? Just because the Instagram platform prefers that it knows whether or not you've edited in the app itself or not, or in an outside app. So I try my very best to do my everything in Instagram. And because there's so many tools now in Instagram that aren't as glitchy as they were before, and it actually works. That's what I try to do. If I do have to do anything outside of the app, I use an app called CapCut.
00:29:48
Speaker
cap cut. All right, cool. And I'll make sure we link to that in the show notes as well. As far as creating the content goes, you had mentioned that you script everything out. You also mentioned in passing the importance of hooks. Maybe you could just talk about your scripting process. How much time do you spend on crafting hook? And maybe we could even back up a little bit and just talk about what a hook is and why it's so important. We have another episode about hooks, a little bit of a different context that was published. So what is a hook? Why is it important?
00:30:17
Speaker
The hook is the beginning portion of your video. And so with that, it is the first like one to three seconds of any video is what's going to allow that viewer to realize if that video is for them or not, what's going to get them to keep watching or not. So you only have three seconds, really, but I wouldn't even give it more than that. So what you're trying to do is let someone know whether or not they should continue. So with that, it could be drawing on who they are. So sometimes I'll be like, if you're engaged,
00:30:46
Speaker
So if you're engaged, you're like, huh, I'm engaged. Like I would love to watch this video. Or it's like pinpointing a struggle. So it's like if you're struggling with this, they're like, Oh, I'm struggling with that. Like I need that in my life. And then other hooks are music. Like you have a really good trendy song and a beautiful like video. That's a hook in itself. Like
00:31:08
Speaker
But sometimes music is a really good way of just hooking someone in because people are really drawn by sound. So that's something to consider as well. So whenever you're going through reels or going through TikToks and you notice yourself just stopping for no reason, kind of like stay there for a second, look at the video and then be like, why did I just stop? Like, was it the hook? Was it the music? What was it about this video that made me actually pause and spend time with this video? That will really help you for future videos for yourself.
00:31:37
Speaker
As far as the hooks go as well, like, you know, how important are captions in videos? You know, I know for me, I'm usually scrolling with the sound off and then if I see something, I'll stop, you know, and I'll turn the sound on. But oftentimes, you know, the hook, you know, it shows up maybe as a caption. And so that's how I know like that looked interesting. And so that's, you know, that's why I stopped. Does that make sense?
00:31:56
Speaker
I have a very strong opinion about this. I love strong opinions. Only strong opinions with me and I believe 100% that you need captions. You should not post a video without captions or text on. As far as captions go, do you add those in the Instagram app or do you use another app to add the captions?
00:32:14
Speaker
I use it in the Instagram app. So what I do actually is closed captioning will pop up at the bottom. And what I do is I actually time it. So my first part of my video, I write out the text. I don't have it in the captions because I don't want people to try to read through what I'm saying at the same time that I'm saying it. I want them to read like a shorter version. So it will be like, engage, question mark. And then it will be in a different color. So it will draw people's eye, not only to the video, but to the word engaged.
00:32:42
Speaker
And then at the bottom, it's a really quick snippet of what they're going to see next. And then my closed captioning comes on. Okay, awesome. And as far as the like type of videos that you're creating, like give sort of a template for how you're going to share tips, like your scripts essentially, do they all look about the same or and just with, you know, obviously different content?
00:33:05
Speaker
What I do is I have content in my notes and I have content in a Google Doc. And essentially what I do is I write out the hook first or actually I write out the topic idea. Sometimes it changes now that I'm just so used to it. I've been practicing it for about three years now, but essentially I write out what the topic of the reel is going to be. And then I read out a hook, something that is super attractive, super in like
00:33:28
Speaker
pinpointing exactly who I want to talk to or struggle and then after that I write out like with a dash it's kind of like writing out notes one video will be like this tip and then I do another video and this tip and another video and this tip I hope that makes sense but that's how I'll write out my content with little dashes and each dash is a different video that will be in that one main video
00:33:49
Speaker
Awesome. And as far as that goes, like you're using like a teleprompter app, you know, or you just basically cut like, you know, what you're going to share, you record it and then you stop and it's just clips.
00:33:59
Speaker
So I memorize each little clip and then I go into the next clip. So it's just memorization. They're like five words though. And you can see all of this is on my page. So if anyone listening is like, I have no clue what this chick's talking about, go to my page and you will see instantly what I'm talking about. Or you can send me a DM and I can send you like, actually, I could probably send you, Davey, like what one of my videos looks like, like written out, if that would help anybody.
00:34:24
Speaker
Oh, for sure. For anybody who's listening and thinking, I have to see this all, of course, linked to cringe stuff in the show notes. So head on over there. And, you know, I know I can embed like reels and stuff. So maybe I'll have you send, you know, a real that's a good example and embed that in the show notes as well.
00:34:40
Speaker
Cause sometimes when you just talk about it, I talked to a lot of people about this type of stuff was with how I like content create and people were like, what, what? And I'm like here. And they're like, Oh my gosh, that makes so much more sense than how you just explained it. And I'm like, sorry, like it's okay.
00:34:56
Speaker
So basically, as far as reels go, I mean, you're editing inside the Instagram app. You're using most of the tools that are native to their app. Are you using anything else? I mean, it's just your phone, I'm assuming. So you're not using some sort of other camera, except I'm sure when you're sharing your work, then of course you're bringing in images and stuff. Is there any other gear that people need to get started?
00:35:15
Speaker
I like tripods. I probably need to actually buy a new one, but tripods are really great. Ring lights are really wonderful. Like a day like today is super overcast and it limits the amount of reels that I can create in a day because of how dark it is. So a ring light usually really helps. It's not necessary, but if you get a tripod with a ring light, that's really helpful. Or even just like a phone stand, that's really helpful too. What should people expect to pay for something like that?
00:35:40
Speaker
I paid like $20. Yeah, just like off Amazon or something like that. Yeah. And you don't need the ring light. If it's just like a literally just a tripod, that would be even less. Yeah, no, but I would agree about the light, you know, it really does make a difference. It's overcast today. If I didn't have a light, you know, it would be like the video would just be dark. So and then that would limit, you know, I wouldn't be able to share the video of this podcast, for instance, you know, so I definitely think it makes a difference.
00:36:04
Speaker
Yeah, video quality makes a huge difference. Lighting makes a huge difference. The colors that you're wearing make a huge difference. Make sure that you're creating a mini production in a way. It doesn't have to be anything crazy, but make sure the light's good. Your background's pretty simple and true and on brand. You always want to think about always staying on brand because for me,
00:36:25
Speaker
Like my brand is pretty luxury. My couples are pretty high end. And so I need to continue to represent that brand. So with that, I try to have clean backgrounds, really simple, neutral colors. I try to show up and look how they're going to see me on a photographic shoot or something like that with makeup done. Again, this is true to me. It does not need to be true to anybody else, but making sure you think about those things before you post is really important too. Cause you're representing your business alongside yourself.
00:36:55
Speaker
You had mentioned that just yesterday you recorded three reels. Are you typically batch recording content on a given day? What does that process look like for you?
00:37:03
Speaker
I call them batch days or real days. And yesterday was a very condensed version. I also had the dentist yesterday that took two hours. So that ruined my reals day. So I ended up only being able to do three because it's just been very, very overcast in Virginia. And then also my energy. My energy wasn't there towards the end. And so I was like, three's good. I don't want to try to push myself if my energy isn't there because you can tell immediately in a video
00:37:27
Speaker
whether I was on or if I was off. So if I feel myself kind of just not doing as well, I will stop for the day. And I have millions of real drafts, so many at this point, where I can always go back when I'm feeling the energies back up. And or if I'm going out, like, if I wanted to, I could probably make some reels after this interview because I have like, I'm ready, I have my makeup on, I'm ready to go. And I have my reels drafts always ready on the go.
00:37:54
Speaker
you batch record your reels, how often do you have to share reels? Like, is this something that you have to do every day you feel like? Or is there some other cadence just to get the most out of your content? So to clarify, like, like scheduling, like what I post during a week kind of thing. Yeah, like how many reels would you post during a week?
00:38:10
Speaker
Yeah, so I post two to three. That's the best way that I can stay consistent. I used to do every day because that's what felt really great to me. That's also when I had a lot of content on TikTok to share, but now when like, especially with what I was saying earlier with the 40 weddings last year and all that kind of stuff that wasn't consistent and I ended up burning out.
00:38:30
Speaker
And now I don't want that. So I post two to three reels a week. I post carousel photos of my couples. And then I also try to do a carousel of like rain on your wedding day. So like tips people can read more so just trying to pinpoint a lot of different areas of content. I find obviously posting pictures and carousels the easiest. So those are always ready to go. And then, but when it comes to reels and my batch days, I try to get a month's worth of content done in one day. So I don't have to go and try to
00:39:00
Speaker
like scrap up another reel like I did yesterday with my three because I needed one for today and I was not ready. No, that's amazing. I mean, you get
Measuring Success
00:39:09
Speaker
a month's worth of content done in a day. If you're recording two to three reels for a given week, right? My guess is that those carousel posts that have the tips in them probably contain a lot of the same tips you're sharing in your reels, but they've just been reformatted for a carousel post. Is that right?
00:39:25
Speaker
And it's mostly just the caption. I don't have a lot of text carousels. I'm thinking about changing that in the future because those are doing really, really well on Instagram right now and just to try it out with my audience. And if they resonate with it, then cool, like I'll do it. If they don't, then I'll stop because they're a lot of work. But I think putting a lot in the caption and having pretty pictures of like rain on your wedding day and having a lot of examples of my couples having rain and the portraits that we've taken and then tips on how to prepare for that, that's a saveable post in my opinion.
00:39:54
Speaker
How do you measure success when it comes to Instagram reels? I mean, I know the downstream measurement of success is going to be inquiries and bookings for sure, but just in looking at the content that you're creating and learning from that and that leading you to create maybe more content and like it.
00:40:10
Speaker
What are you looking at exactly? One of the things that I found that's pretty tricky about Reels in just trying to measure success is that I'll post something. In the first day, it doesn't seem like it's getting any engagement. Then one week later, all of a sudden, it's blowing up and I'm like, what is happening? Do you find that's the case where it's like something looks like it's going to be a dud and then isn't?
00:40:30
Speaker
That happens a lot actually. And then sometimes they are just duds and it's okay to have duds. Duds happen. It is life. They are the most defeating feeling, especially like I really get defeated. I'm like, oh shoot, that was not good. I thought that was going to be good. And then it
00:40:45
Speaker
It doesn't end up being, but how I measure success and stuff like that is just based on what my other reels kind of look like and the ones that have shown a lot of success. So people commenting and like engaging with it, whether or not I don't really look at likes that much, but most of the time it's mostly the engagement in the comments is success for me. If I don't get like any comments, then I'm like, oh man, I don't know if this really helped anybody.
00:41:11
Speaker
I don't know if that's helpful, but that's kind of how I look at it. And then obviously views. Views are a wonderful way to be like, okay, like this is going somewhere. Like this is doing well in a good amount of time. And then also the week thing is so true where that's why just keep it up. Like keep whatever real, whether it's a dud or not, because you don't know what's going to happen in a week for that real. Many a time I've had one go a couple of days where I'm like, oh man,
00:41:37
Speaker
I thought that was going to be so good. And then I wait and I was like, it was good. Like, look at that. It went viral. It will take some time. It doesn't go viral literally overnight, especially not on Instagram. TikTok that sometimes happens, but I don't find that happens very often on Instagram. It takes a couple of days.
00:41:53
Speaker
That sort of thing I think is just so interesting to me. That's one of the reasons why I have started to appreciate video is I feel like it just has a longer shelf life and runway than static images do. With the static image or a carousel post even, if it doesn't get engagement in the first day, then it's just not getting engagement. It's not like you see that bounce maybe down the line. As far as content goes, how often do you reshare content? My guess is you're probably not deleting reels and then re-uploading them.
00:42:18
Speaker
My guess is you've probably spoken to the same topic more than once, right? So do you have just sort of a system for going back through old content and thinking, oh, I need to create another reel about that because it was popular content then that would lead you to believe probably that it's going to be popular content now. Do you have a system for doing that?
00:42:37
Speaker
don't have a system. I don't do it often. I have only done it a handful of times based on like my most viral reels. So I have gone back and been like, okay, like it's been a year, I should probably like try to create a reel around that same subject. But I don't do it as much as
00:42:53
Speaker
people probably think I create a lot of different new content. And that is because of how many weddings I attend and photograph. So I'm able to come up with new stuff all the time. If anything that I've talked about the most is probably my own wedding day in terms of just repurposing that type of content because that is
00:43:11
Speaker
one idea. It's one day that happens and something that I resonate with a lot, but it's still at the same time I come up with different content a lot, which is probably not helpful for anybody. But I think a good idea
Brand Building with Reels
00:43:23
Speaker
could be and a strategy could be is me relooking at all the ones that have done really well and reposting them based on just it's a different time now. New eyes are on my account, so I think that could be really helpful.
00:43:36
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, what other tip have we missed anything? Is there anything else that I should be asking some other things to like get people just outside of just posting reels and getting followers? Again, going back to that why I think there's so much potential to posting reels beyond just
00:43:53
Speaker
Instagram, just staying on Instagram because the whole purpose for me... So I have this service called Done For You Reels. It's for my higher end clientele where they come or I go to their house and I create the reels for them. And with them, they're not thinking, hey, I'm trying to grow on Instagram. That's not what their goal is. So I had one client, she was trying to sell a new course.
00:44:18
Speaker
So weeks before the course was gonna sell, like come up to be live with everybody, she had hired me and we created Reels an entire day based on what was going to be in that course. So posing and all those different types of things. And so with that, the goal was not to sell the course. The goal was to give informational value and relatable content so people who were interested in that subject would end up following her.
00:44:47
Speaker
and then she's really good at stories and posting consistently. So then after that, she promotes her newsletter. People will then sign up for the newsletter and that's how she sells best to get her courses sold. Does that make sense?
00:45:02
Speaker
That makes a lot of sense. And again, I think it speaks to certainly people who are maybe a little older school when it comes to marketing, realizing the value of social media. You can use Reels to build your brand, market your business in a way that doesn't necessarily directly maybe sell the course. It's not directly tied to that.
00:45:21
Speaker
you know, and conversion. It's not like somebody sees real and immediately buys the course, but it does build trust. It gets you to follow along. Hopefully from there, you know, like you said in your example, you can get somebody on your email list and from there, you know, maybe they're purchasing the course. So I think that makes a lot of sense.
00:45:35
Speaker
So thinking it beyond just Instagram, like just selling on Instagram, try to get them a step further so you're still building that trust so you can sell better. You can like give them more value. And then by the time you're even trying to sell something, they're like, oh, like that makes sense. Like I wouldn't buy from anybody else. And that's very similar to wedding photography in a service. And that's what I've been doing. So when it comes to me, I'm giving out all of this value. I don't really need anybody to go on my newsletter list.
00:46:05
Speaker
but for me, it's they're learning my personalities through my reels. And then when they look at my feed, they see that I'm also a wonderful wedding photographer. So someone who has a personality that resonates with them plus beautiful photos, they're like, of course I have to have her. Whenever I'm engaged, I want to hire her because I already feel like I know her. And also she's giving all these tips. Imagine the experience that I'm going to get.
00:46:30
Speaker
kind of thing. So thinking just beyond posting a reel for the sake of posting a reel, think about how you can just up level your brand and up level the experience that you're going to give to a client is also really important. And I have one more example, but my example with this one is I worked with a luxury DC invitation artist, and she didn't want to show her face at all. Her brand is primarily her invitations. That is it. And I was like, okay, I love a challenge. Like, this will be fun.
00:46:59
Speaker
Sounds like me though. It's like, don't have to be in this. Right. And you don't have to. If that is not a part of your... Well, your brand is very much your face. You have to. It's unfortunate. She does not have to. What her goal was and her why behind Posting Reels was to try to have clients purchase higher end paper, higher end invitation suites. And so she was filming a lot of them and filming those thick paper,
00:47:26
Speaker
I can't even give all the terms of an illustration kind of thing, but she was trying to sell this particular type of paper, like all this type of stuff. And so filming it, rather than just seeing a photo of it, people were buying things left and right from her to up level their invitation suites. And so that up levels her business, that up levels her client experience, and she's actually doing something she's really passionate about.
00:47:50
Speaker
So that's another way to use Reels too. She's not selling anything. She's just showing. She's showcasing. And if you showcase it enough, people are like, oh, I love that. I like, I have to have that. So I hope that makes sense too. But that's another way. Those are three different ways in terms of a product, a course, and then just a service that you can use Reels.
00:48:09
Speaker
to really promote your brand and get people through the door. Yeah, I mean, all those examples are really helpful. And so hopefully, you know, by the end of this episode, people are starting to have an idea of maybe how they can incorporate reels into their into their content workflow and into their marketing strategy. I'll say that
Importance of Personal Branding
00:48:26
Speaker
one of the things that I've come to love about Instagram, and for me, it's always been about building an email list. But Krista keeps us consistent across social media. One of the things that I've really come to appreciate about social media is
00:48:37
Speaker
with a real, for instance, you can spend far less time throwing together a real, testing it on Instagram, getting feedback from people, actually getting engagement and comments and realizing if there's any sort of merit to that idea, whether it's striking to people. Whereas if you spend, I don't know, hours on hours on a blog post or making a YouTube video or something like that, just requires maybe a little bit more effort than getting your phone out. And again, I'm not trying to downplay how much effort it requires to make a real.
00:49:07
Speaker
But it is a nice test, right? And so you can test all these different ideas before then maybe developing one of those ideas into a longer form content. So that's one of the ways that I've really started to, I don't know, find enjoyment in creating reels. It's still, for me, a struggle, long-winded, ramble a little bit too much. Also, if I mess up, I just want to start over. And Chris is like, no, just keep going because you can cut it. You can edit the video. And I'm like, conceptually, I understand that.
00:49:37
Speaker
But for whatever reason in practice, I just can't go on, you know? So that's been challenging as well. I think scripting will be very helpful for you. Yes, I think so. But I can also see doing voiceovers, being really like helpful where you're just filming something that's maybe you just, it's B-roll with a voiceover over it. So then you have a script written out. So it's not directly on your face. It's B-roll of like you creating a pot, like the tripod would be right next to you. And then it's filming you
00:50:01
Speaker
doing the podcast, and then you have a voiceover on top of it, I feel like that would really play to your strengths on top of showcasing what you do and what you're trying to promote. Yeah, I should probably try more of that. I always joke with like, you know, people, the last questions, like, you know, especially as they're building their brands, should we do a personal brand? Should we name our business something else? I always joke like, oh, definitely name it something else. You know, just I always joke with Krista, like, we should never name David and Krista. It should have been something else. You know, I never would have put my face on anything.
00:50:29
Speaker
Yeah, no, that's true. That's true. You're a little stuck, but it's less true than I think, you know, even for a till agency, which is the advertising agency, you know, I still end up having to put my face on things, even though it's not branded around my name, you know, so the truth is, you know, and this is why I think, you know, having experts on like yourself on the podcast is so important to talk about these things, because the truth is, is that just people's faces, they build trust, you know, like, I think, especially in a world of AI, you know, when you can generate content so easily and so artificially,
00:50:58
Speaker
I think people's brands become that much more important, people knowing that there's a face behind the business. And so I think that something like Instagram Reels just is one of those tools that can build trust in just a short amount of time.
00:51:12
Speaker
Very much so. That's also a whole other conversation, but AI. Dude, just put in a struggle of your ideal client into there. That's all the real ideas that you could ever need and more. Literally right there. I did that the other day and I was like, I don't need my brain anymore. Obviously don't take it word for word, add your own personality to it, but you don't have to try as hard. You don't have to try to get into the mind of your ideal client. You could just be like, what are the struggles of the bride? And then boom.
00:51:40
Speaker
And it just gives you a list. It's amazing. Yeah, it definitely I think eliminates anybody's excuse for not having ideas, right? It is a great idea generator, you know, there's a little bit of skill to using AI, I think garbage in garbage out, you know, but with that said, and then of course, you still have to create the content, you know, so there's still work involved, but I do think it is a helpful tool, you know, for that ends.
00:52:03
Speaker
But anyways, thank you Corinne so much for sharing your time and expertise. You know, I knew this episode was going to be a long one, probably because you have two Ramblers together, but also because I think there's just so much content related topics to
Conclusion and Contact Information
00:52:16
Speaker
dive into. For people who want to follow along, where can they connect with you?
00:52:19
Speaker
Yeah, so it's at Karen Jasinski, the hardest name on the planet. That's my name and that's where you can find me. Hopefully it'll be in the notes. So just find it there. And then also my website is a wonderful place if you're ever looking to like up level your Instagram reels and you just need a little bit of help. I'd love to talk to you more about like what services I have to offer and that type of education. Or if you just need inspiration, my Instagram is filled with it. And I'm always in my DMS trying to help people. So
00:52:49
Speaker
That's one of two ways. Awesome. Well, thank you so much. And of course, all those links will be in the show notes. Thanks for tuning into the brand set book show. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving a review in iTunes. For show notes and other resources, head on over to devianchrista.com.
00:53:15
Speaker
you